The Importance of an API Strategic Value

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Written By Online Figure

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If you are reading this article, you probably know what APIs are and why they are crucial to today`s digital businesses. Today, you can find companies that are not using APIs. But their numbers are so small, that they are almost nonexistent. We can make a comparison between the APIs and the internet. Just as www opened itself for countless people, that way APIs are offering the possibility to companies to grow very fast.

This growth is enabled by sharing services with the other companies. With knowing that, we know that the APIs are going to have a prosperous future. In the past APIs were limited only to the inside of the companies. Now, with almost of all their potential revealed, they are available to everyone. The number of API consumers and their ecosystems are growing every day. APIs are an irreplaceable part of those ecosystems.

Why Is an API Strategy Important for Your Business?

Since APIs became pretty common, new demands emerged. One of these demands is an API strategy, which became an essential part of digital businesses. By establishing an API strategy, you will improve the collaboration, innovations, and customer service in the end. Some percent of all companies is bound to fail in making an API strategy. Their future is going to be uncertain at least.

We can say that an API strategy is like the umbrella that covers all other things. It is of the highest importance that your strategy and architecture area compatible. That is a must if you want to have a successful API. Also, the strategy needs to be compatible with the design.  The strategy will dictate all of the objectives, and an API design is going to use those objectives as planned. In addition, having a strategy is important for later use of APIs and SDKs.

Why are SDKs and APIs Important for Your Business?

APIs are a part of SDK. SDK is short for software development kit. Together SDKs and APIs are like a building block for creating a platform, which is going to represent a middleman for system communications. Because of their use, they surely are becoming a newly irreplaceable tool for covering more of the market, keeping shareholders satisfied, and maintaining a client engagement.

There are three reasons for their importance. We are going to name them now.

Reason no.1 – Encouraging Collaboration

Probably the biggest advantage of an open platform approach with SDKs and APIs is promoting the external innovations. Sometimes the right answer to your problem can be found on the outside of your company. There are countless examples you can find on the internet. By offering your data to the outside developers, you can accumulate their technologies, and pick the right ones for your company.

Reason no.2 – Encouraging Innovation

In the world of mass production, competition is increasing every day. The business surrounding is more dynamic now that ever.  However, many of the companies working today still have strategies created in the past. This conservative approach is not going to be as effective in the future. Modern time has new demands that companies need to fulfill.

Reason no.3 – Increasing the Quality of Customer Experience

Today, people are not having a lot of patience. If your business doesn`t have a certain level of customer experience, your potential customers will avoid you. Providing the necessary services to your customers is the crucial part. By using APIs, you will fulfill all of those demands. That way you will stay competitive in the market.

How to be Successful in Executing Your API Strategy?

Of course, if you don`t have a successful executing of your API strategy, all of your hard work was for nothing. In our experience, there are some steps which will ensure you a successful implementation of your API. Those steps are:

Identifying the Value

APIs will probably produce great amounts of value. Your job is to understand where those should be applied. Analyzing customer journeys probably is the best way of identifying API opportunities. Developing an API demands that you have more than basic knowledge of data environment. After the developer finishes the identification process, he needs to see which and how many APIs are required for opening that particular value.

Manage Monetization Actively

After creating the vision, companies need to focus on finding a way to obtain the value they identified. Deciding on what you want to charge requires a thorough investigation. The result of that investigation, combined with the company`s strategy will help with the decision on which monetization methods to go after.

Creating a Central Authority and Managerial Model

If you want your API to be efficient, you need new ideas about partnerships, technology, and economic integration, the pace of the development process, coordination, and funding. Also, the challenges of security and data privacy are going to emerge. By creating an authoritative centralized body you will ensure supervising of API design and development process.

The Bottom Line

As we said, having an API strategy before you start designing an API is a must. Companies which are using an API without API strategy, are bound to fail. We explained how strategy is important for APIs and SDKs equally, and what fruits you can collect from that collaboration. Also, the steps essential for implementing an API strategy were enlisted.

Thank you for reading our article. We hope it was equally informative and enjoyable. If you have some questions or something to add, feel free to leave a post in our comment section down below. We will respond on a short notice.